


I know a place where it's warm and dry, dear

by torches



Category: Futari wa Pretty Cure
Genre: Asexuality, Collars, Dom/sub, F/F, Humiliation (Mild)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-06-02
Updated: 2010-06-02
Packaged: 2017-10-09 21:16:34
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Underage
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,488
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/91708
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/torches/pseuds/torches
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Honoka stared at the piece of fabric in Nagisa's hand, blinking several times and every time it still sat there in Nagisa's hand, and every time she was just as baffled about what to do with it.</p><p>(<i>I know a place where it's warm and dry, dear, let me take you there.</i>)</p>
            </blockquote>





	I know a place where it's warm and dry, dear

**Author's Note:**

> I will probably revise these notes later, but what you need to know: Honoka/ace!Nagisa fic, submission/collar kink, some (incredibly mild) erotic humiliation, set sometime during early high school for them but they're still technically underage by my reckoning and I wrote them with that in mind so if that bugs you and you didn't ping to the story tags alread don't read any further, oh god I don't know where this came from, honest, but _oh my god it makes me squirm like you wouldn't believe_ so fdshfh;dklhgkh excuse me I need a clean-up in aisle five. Title from "What I'm Trying to Say" by Stars, off the album _Set Yourself on Fire_.

Honoka stared at the piece of fabric in Nagisa's hand, blinking several times and every time it still sat there in Nagisa's hand, and every time she was just as baffled about what to do with it.

"Uh ..." She looked up at Nagisa, helplessly; what, why was she _asking_ \- "I don't understand," she finally settled on, for lack of anything more helpful to say.

Nagisa's entire face stuttered, her blush growing deeper, if that was possible. "It - I realize this is weird, but -" Her hand opened and closed around the slim black strip.

Honoka guessed the fabric was picking up at least some sweat, the way Nagisa fidgeted and how long Nagisa must have carried it around in her pants pocket before working up the nerve to hold it out to Honoka like this; Nagisa was so easily embarrassed that it probably traveled between pants pockets for a week before Honoka even suspected Nagisa wanted to show her something and couldn't say the words. Honoka would always be patient for Nagisa, however; she would always be there to hold Nagisa and support her.

"It can't be that weird if it's your idea, Nagisa," Honoka said, patting Nagisa's palm gently. "I'm just ... uh. Confused?"

Nagisa ducked her head, hair shadowing her eyes. She tried a smile on for size, found it slightly too large, and picked one a little slimmer. "It's - it's like this," she said. "You're - I need you. A lot."

Honoka nodded. "So ..." Some prodding couldn't hurt. "Tell me why?"

Nagisa gave a start at the unintentional command. Honoka's eyebrows rose slightly, and a thought formed in the back of her head. Saying anything could wait, though - and what if she were wrong? She didn't want to waylay Nagisa's thoughts for her sake. For Nagisa, she could wait through every stammered thought in the world if it meant Nagisa came one step closer to understanding herself in the process.

"I need you," Nagisa said, and the look in her eyes clung to Honoka like electric arcs from a Tesla coil; Honoka's hand unconsciously tightened around Nagisa's in response. "You ... You're the only person I trust to tell me I'm messing up. You're the hand I want to reach for me when I'm hurting. You matter to me more than anything. I -" Nagisa's hand jerked away, closing around the black band again.

Honoka's fingers tingled where Nagisa's palm used to be. Acting on her own growing certainty, she reached out and closed her hand around Nagisa's wrist before Nagisa could respond. "Do you love me?"

Nagisa's eyes shot up, wide and blown with emotion - "Yes," she blurted out, "of course" - and her hand relaxed immediately in Honoka's grasp.

"Then you can - _tell_ me." Honoka met Nagisa's eyes with all the confidence and faith she possessed, her hand cradling Nagisa's wrist, tightening and rubbing against the bony knob of her wrist joint. Nagisa's breath caught in her throat. "I don't care who else you love. I'll be here for you. Always."

She should have known that would leave Nagisa speechless and close to tears for some time. It was no matter. Honoka kept her hand where it belonged, rubbing gently, until Nagisa could find the words again. "It's not about that," Nagisa said, finally, her voice rough and her eyes looking everywhere but into Honoka's own. "It's not about whether I'm in a relationship or - or anything like ... that." Nagisa's throat bobbed as she swallowed. "Because - because I'm not."

"Do you want to be?" Honoka asked, already knowing the answer.

Nagisa's mouth folded in on itself, shameful and warm. "... no."

Honoka's smiling rejoinder was just as warm and open. "Then you don't have to be." She moved her hand up to cup Nagisa's clenched fist, to soak in the heat of her shivering grip.

Nagisa's voice cracked, a flash of embarrassed teeth flitting across her face. "It's not - it's not like that." Nagisa's whole body stood rigid and tight, and all Honoka wanted in the whole world was to see it released. But she could see Nagisa needing the tightness, she could see the flush it dragged up and spread across Nagisa's face. "I don't want a relationship." A breath - but Honoka was suddenly uncertain which one of them meant to hold it. "I just want - you, here. Next to me."

All the weight went out of Honoka's shoulders. She tilted her head in fond bemusement, her fingers gliding across Nagisa's knuckles: "I'm not going anywhere, silly."

Nagisa's irritation was soft but no less immediate; the shiver started at the tip of her toes and twitched her head jerkily. "No!" Her face twisted. "I - I mean, you can't just _say_ it. You have to -" Her breath came raggedly, shaky, like each swallow of air stuck together in solid clumps she had to force down her throat. "You have to take _responsibility_," she said at last, opening her hand and holding out the choker to Honoka again.

Honoka still felt it was such a small, slim object to hold such a heavy weight; it seemed impossible that something so flimsy could carry such a pull. "You want me to put this on you?" she asked, blinking. The thought bewildered her all over again.

"Yes," Nagisa said, voice thickening as her throat constricted around the syllable.

It wasn't as if Honoka felt confused about what Nagisa _wanted_. Chokers were very cute. She could understand why Nagisa would want to wear one. Privately, in fact, Honoka thought Nagisa's neck desperately needed one, to accentuate the throb and pulse of her throat, but it wasn't as though she'd ever mentioned her feelings about that to _Nagisa_, so she was baffled why Nagisa would come to her about it. She just couldn't wrap her brain around why Nagisa couldn't do it _herself_. She understood there was some significance to certain devices, when placed around people's necks, the nature of "ownership" and similar concepts. She read voraciously, and it fascinated her, anyway, the way doing that could be such an intimate and connective act. But such a plain one, simple and black and unadorned ... it was just a choker, right?

Or maybe not. Honoka watched the heat and tension wash over Nagisa's face, and concluded that apparently even something as basic as a choker could carry a significant weight of responsibility in the right hands.

Nagisa always said Honoka was good at being responsible, didn't she? Well. And the thought of seeing the choker around Nagisa's neck, knowing that _she_ put it there, that it - that it meant Nagisa _belonged_ to her, wanted to be that close to her -

Perhaps it wasn't hard to understand after all.

"Give me the choker," she said, as simply as she could, and something in her tightened imperceptibly at the change the command wrought in Nagisa's body - shoulders a little straighter, breath a little smoother, eyes a little _brighter_, everything _firmer_, like the structure gave her entire body a new _solidity_ \- as Nagisa reached out, hands shivering so minutely that Honoka only felt the vibration as their palms touched. Honoka smiled. "Relax," she said. "And turn around so I can put it on you properly."

Nagisa took in a shuddering breath, the only audible sign that the situation still left her distraught - and turned, leaning back. This close, Honoka could see the tremor in the curve of her shoulders; she reached out to press her hands against that quivering line and leave it smoothed beneath her touch. She fluffed at Nagisa's hair, dislodging the strands and tufts that liked to catch in Nagisa's shirt, and reached around Nagisa's neck carefully. She felt the exact moment Nagisa's breath caught in her throat, but she was in no hurry. She let her hands rest against the dip of Nagisa's collarbone just long enough to feel Nagisa's warmth against the inside curve of her thumb before lifting the thin strip of fabric and - fastening it under the hairline, like so. The choker settled into place around Nagisa's neck without a sound and in the same moment, like a puppet with the strings cut, Nagisa collapsed back into Honoka's arms, a long, frayed breath escaping her throat.

"I've got you," Honoka said, reaching a hand up to fist in Nagisa's hair.

Honoka didn't need to see Nagisa's face to know her eyes were completely blown wide and dilated, that her mouth fell slightly open from all the unformed and unnecessary words that threatened to spill from it. She could feel all these things in the spent angles of Nagisa's shoulders. Idly, she ghosted a hand against the muted warmth of the choker around Nagisa's neck, smiling when Nagisa rewarded her attention with a shudder.

"Yes," Nagisa said, breathless and clear, "you do." She closed her eyes and folded herself into the comforting closeness of Honoka's arms.

Honoka hummed into Nagisa's hair, stroking Nagisa's arm gently, back and forth, back and forth. "I promise."


End file.
